Living Up To The Name
"Lis..ten well, Autobot. The seeds of destruc..tion have already been sown under your very feet!" the minibot sized Decepticon assassin spits, energon already spilling down his mouth and onto the Wrecker leader's iron grip. Throwing Umbra into the other two dazed Decepticons, Impactor growls. "Fer once and all, quit sayin' that. I git it, underground.. seeds.. feet. Very clever!" Charging up a full powered blast from his shoulder cannon, the purple and gold Autobot charges at the trio.. unleashing the blast on another assassin and impaling the other with his harpoon. Lowering the right harpooned arm to his side, Impactor picks up his boot and forcibly removes Darklight from his impaling. Umbra looks up at him with transfixed optics, either too afraid to take further action or speechless at the display of ultraviolence. The Wrecker lifts up his harpoon, flicking a piece of wiring off the fine tip. "Now, why don't we all quit playin' werd games and git to tha point?" he chuckles, reaching down to grasp him by the cuff again. Struggling in his grasp, the assassin manages a kick into his midsection and scurries off down the tunnel.. leaving an easily trackable trail of seeping energon. Groaning, Impactor pulls out his personal communicator and opens up a link to the Autobot broadband. "Frakin' Decepticon dimwits took out tha wrist uplink in tha shuffle." Hidden Passageway This passageway is pitch black, and most normal optics must take a few moments to adjust to the heavy darkness. The steep, downhill slant is very noticeable as the passage haphazardly twists its way downwards, sharp turns coming up frequently and unexpectedly. It is quite a ways before the end is reached, and unless one is very familiar with this route, progress is slow. Contents: Slugfest Windshear Hook Slag Dreadwind Sandstorm Impactor With a quick flip and the roar of an engine, Sandstorm takes off in dunebuggy mode, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. Dreadwind is in the undoubtedly damp, corrosive, dirty, rust infested underbelly of Cybertron and why because Galvatron says so, this is all going to be a waste of effort he should have just let Galvatron pull the trigger and finish it once and for all. He's leading this miserable group down here after the Autobots, he trudges onwards through the darkness whatever lies ahead will no doubt take his life first anyway, if he's lucky. Dreadwind grumbles softly to the others, "Keep your optics peeled, you never know what's lurking down here waiting to feast on your chassis, draining your energon reserves and that's just the Autobots. It's probably best to shoot first, unless it's something really big, but then it won't matter." The four combatants are not alone in this dark passageway! Skulking about the shadows, fearfully looking a bout with a shaking flashlight gripped in his hands, is Breakdown, black sheep of the Stunticons. "S-s-stay close, everyone! Easy to get lost down here, and there's HORRIBLE things that live down here!" he says to the Decepticons who are, hopefully, following him. Eventually, Breakdown happens upon Umbra, who's lying face down in a pool of his own energon. "Oh, no, they got Umbra! The other assassins must be slagged, too! Damn those Autobots!" However, perceptive as he always is, Breakdown notices the trail of energon leading down the tunnel. "...and I think I know how to find them!" He begins to follow the trail to its endpoint! Jayson Redfield has arrived. Breakdown's player had been typing all of that before he saw Dreadwind's pose, but nevertheless, Breakdown himself agrees with that assessment, though it terrifies him to do so. "Ah, man, I know! I don't even want to think about what we might find down here!" Hook has left. Exo-Armor Pegasus has arrived. Jayson Redfield drops Exo-Armor Pegasus . Jayson Redfield has left. Jayson Redfield enters the Exo-Armor Pegasus . Windshear is in the part as per orders and follows along quietly, optics peeled, weapons online, looking for anything. He takes in Dreadwind's words and then looks at Breakdown as he makes his discovery of Umnbra. "Dread." he rasps, "Breakdown found something." Slag follows Impactor's trail down here. As he gets near he calls out, "Me Slag say what you doing down here? Me think this more for insectycon, not us." he grumbles in complaint. "Who you want Slag to kill?" he asks, making his way to where everyone's at. Actually driving in the deep dark tunnels of Cybertron's underground was a dangerous proposition in general.. But that was exactly why Sandstorm was doing it. The twists and turns and sudden drops were part of the fun as far as the daredevil Wrecker was concerned.. though in this case there was a sense of serious urgency to his trip. Impactor didn't call for help for just -anyone- after all. Fortunately Sandstorm has done his fair share of patrolling and fighting down here, and actually has some sense of where he's going. Having Impactor's signal to follow helps, too... As does finding one of Impactor's actual drill tank tunnels. "Hey, over here guys!" he radios briefly to the others before bolting down it himself, and eventually out of the other end. Just in time to see Imp's handywork in action. "Whoa, looks like we still missed part of the fun!" he retorts as he skids to a stop. Dreadwind sighs as this can only get worse after finding one dead body another one who gets to be free at last, "Yes but it doesn't matter, we're all going to die down here i just know it, that body is just to heighten our tension and suffering. Keep Breakdown in sight Windshear, who knows, you might get lucky and end up killing him before they do." Dreadwind ignoring his own advice trudges more slowly after Breakdown, after all why rush to your doom it will find you readily enough. The passageway may be dark, but that doesn't bother Jayson. After all, he has sensors and monitors in his exo unit to guide him through such darkness. Following Sandstorm's call, he moves the Pegasus to the Impactor-made tunnel and goes through it without hesitation. Impactor looks over his shoulder at Sandstorm's boisterous entrance and Slag's shouting. "Do tha werds covert mean anythin' to ya?" And hopefully he doesn't ask the Wrecker leader himself, he's no idea either. "Once Slag gets his aft down 'ere, I need ya ta scout ahead Storm." Pointing to the long trail of energon splish splashed down the dark tunnel, "Don't think you'll miss it, neither." "Jayson, stick with me.. Slag, yer on tha rear watchin' our backs." and with a wave of his one hand before them, he awaits the daredevil Wrecker to lead them into the dark abyss. Windshear regards Dreadwind's words without a sound and follows after Breakdown as ordered. "Behind you, Breakdown," he says. Breakdown stops for a moment. "Wait, what? Kill me!? Who's going to kill me?! You're joking, right?" he sputters, but continues trudging along, though he casts nervous glances behind himself every now and then to make sure no one is pointing a gun at him. Eventually, the Autobots may notice the light from Breakdown's flashlight reflecting off the tunnels. With a lightning fast flip and twist, Sandstorm lands in his robot mode, ready for action. Sandstorm flips up into robot mode and snaps a salute off, then turns his attention to the trail. ".. It could be pitch black down here and you'd be able to follow that." Pulling his blaster out of subspace and gripping it in both his hands, Sandstorm starts tracking back along the trail.. Though contray to his wild entrance he proves to know very well what 'covert' means. He just doesn't follow it unless necessary. Like right now, where he's ducking against the sides of the passage while following the energon spill. Pauses a moment, then ducks back behind a support outdropping as light flashes off one of the walls briefly, but the source still around the corner. <> mutters the recon-bot over the radio. Combat: Sandstorm sets his defense level to Guarded. From Exo-Armor Pegasus , Jayson Redfield is just glad Impactor's not calling him Jay-Jay. The Wrecker leader seems to like doing that. He sticks close to him, peering into the darkness of the tunnel. Dreadwind sighs as his foot disappears into a small pool of something, he just knows that the fluid will get inside and slowly corrode his gears, giving him a painful rust infection. "Most likely the Autobots we've come down here to destroy Breakdown, but if they don't i'm sure there's a lot worse that'll be attracted by our battle that'll finish the job. This is essentially a suicide mission, we just get to think we've survived by getting to defeat the Autobots first. Keep going, it's not as if we can get out of this now, none of us will." Impactor pads along behind Sandstorm, his attention mainly on the human companion. Such delicate and fragile lifeforms, yet they relentlessly throw themselves into the thick of it next to the Autobots. Such a conundrum, these humans. "You heard her Jayjay, no pullin' silly heroic theatrics on mah watch kid." With a beckoning hand, the Wrecker leader attempts to get Slag to pull in the rear watch. "I knew you guys were slow, but try ta keep up will ya?" Windshear continues to follow Breakdowne silently, as ready as before for anything that might happen. From Exo-Armor Pegasus , Jayson Redfield groans slightly. "Impactor, *please* stop calling me Jay-Jay. I hate that nickname." He continues to keep close to Impactor. "But silly heroics is what I *do*!" he protests. Sandstorm keeps pressed up against the shadowed corner he's in, waiting for the would-be followers to come into actual view. Likely either more assassins, someone looking for the first group, or coming to clean up their mess. All three options were possible... and likely to get more than they bargained for.... Breakdown squints up at the darkness ahead, the flashlight in his arms trembling, casting wild shadows about as he stares fearfully ahead. Eventually the flickering shadows play a trick on his optic sensors, briefly creating the image of some fanged monster. "AHHHHHHH!!!" Breakdown screams, firing his concussion rifle wildly at the imaginary monster. "AHHHH SHOOT IT SHOOT IT!" Windshear startles and raises an arm cannon to fire at...rocks? He shoots a look at Dreadwind then back at Breakdown. "Youve put a serious hurting on that rock, Breakdown." he rumbles dryly. "And I'm sure whatevers down here knows we are here now." "Not here, and not now." Impactor asides to Jayson, peering forward at the light show bouncing all around the tunnel's walls. "Weapons systems online kid and stay back.. don't know if Slag got himself lost or what." Creeping as well as he can considering his bulky armor and weight, the Wrecker leader pads up right behind Sandstorm. "Weapons hot, let's show 'em who they're messin' with." Dreadwind looks forwards as Breakdown opens fire and he assumes the worst, he should draw his weapons and prepare for the deadly firefight that just kicked off but what would be the point? Instead Dreadwind keeps his steady trudge, "He's firing at shadows Windshear? Great that probably means we can't even see them if they're standing right in front of us some sort of sub-levels cloaking system, this just keeps getting better. As they all know where we are now, including the Autobots, they should be here any second..." From Exo-Armor Pegasus , Jayson Redfield pouts, but doesn't complain further. Instead he simply readies his weapons systems, as told. He's eager for a good fight! Sandstorm just gives Impactor a brief nod in return, he's already got his blaster in his hands and ready. No farther communication is needed at that point, other than the actual command to go. +POT Slugfest is now observing. Fortress Maximus has arrived. "NOW!" Impactor roars, charging down the tunnel himself with laser pistol and harpoon held aloft before him. Not caring who is at the recieving end at this point, the Wrecker leader fires off a couple of pot shots down the dark tunnel. "Ferget what they told ya about waitin' till ya see tha wire in their optics, just let 'er rip!" Combat: You ain't no admin, sucka! Combat: Impactor sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Impactor misses Breakdown with his Reckless Wrecking! (Full-Auto) Area attack! -1 Combat: Impactor misses Dreadwind with his Reckless Wrecking! (Full-Auto) Area attack! -1 Combat: Impactor misses Windshear with his Reckless Wrecking! (Full-Auto) Area attack! -1 Sandstorm laughs a bit as he leaps out behind the other Wrecker. "No time for waitin' when yer gonna WRECK 'N' RULE!" Though while Impactor goes in with blazing volleys, Sandstorm picks out a specific target and opens fire with a shot of his sandblaster at the stunticon. "Let's see how you hold up when there ain't no play nice rules like the race to keep me from smashin' yer hood in!" Combat: Sandstorm sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Sandstorm strikes Breakdown with his Sandblaster Gun attack! -2 Combat: You took 7 damage. Combat: Sandstorm's attack damages your armor. Battleship transforms into his Battle Station mode. From Exo-Armor Pegasus , Jayson Redfield, the Wrecker wannabe, dives into battle as soon as Impactor gives the word, shouting, "Wreck 'n rule!" The first Decepticon that fully catches his attention is Windshear, so he's the one that he goes after. A blade extends from the exo's wrist, which Jayson attempts to plunge into the Seeker's chestplate. Combat: Exo-Armor Pegasus sets its defense level to Fearless. Combat: Exo-Armor Pegasus misses Windshear with its Arm Blade attack! Breakdown glares at Windshear. "Hey, shut up! It could have been something dangerous! It could have!" However, arguing with Windshear leaves him vulnerable to attack from the Wreckers, and while Impactor's wild spraying fails to connect with him, Sandstorm's sandblaster finds its mark, and Breakdown shrieks as his chest plating is cruelly blasted away! "AHH! AHH! SEE!? SEE!? There was something down here!" Gnashing his cyber-teeth, Breakdown charges at the Wrecker. "YEAH!? Well, you almost cost me a medal, Autobot! You got PAYBACK coming!" And he fires his concussion rifle! Combat: Breakdown misses Sandstorm with his Concussion Rifle attack! -2 Having stopped to destroy some fiendish rocks, Dreadwind manages to catch up to his crack troopers just as a fusillade of laser fire lights up the tunnel. Unfortunately for Dreadwind he's completely untouched, probably because he didn't bother to carry a light. "See i just knew it." In a startling burst of almost speed Dreadwind draws his rifles and fires back down the tunnels, it probably won't hit anything more important than a structural weakspot entombing everyone forever beneath tons of rubble. Combat: Dreadwind misses Impactor with his Thermal Melters Area attack! Combat: Dreadwind strikes Sandstorm with his Thermal Melters Area attack! Windshear is barely missed by a blast of fire from down the hall. He sneers, "No need to guess where those came from, Dread." and its then that Breakdown, who he was behind, whos replying at him suddenly gets hit with..ballistic sand. He moves out of the way quickly and puts himself right in the bath of a blade? An arm blade from an Exo suit that just charged down the hall. Jumping back quickly he smirks, "Blades is is, fleshcreature." and balling his hands up into fists, twin arm blades extend out of his forearms at the backs of his wrists. Raking them across to throw sparks and a *shinnct* sound he suddenly lunches one toward the Exo. Combat: Windshear sets his defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Windshear strikes Exo-Armor Pegasus with his Arm Blade attack! -2 From Fortress Maximus, Cerebro's head detaches from the rest of its body and unfolds into Galen. From Fortress Maximus, Gasket and Grommet merges with each other into their combined form, Cog. From Fortress Maximus, Cog's body detaches from the waist into two seperate forms, Gasket and Grommet. "Crap." Impactor sighs, as his shots go wide and bounce around the tunnel.. hitting nothing. But it's a cool laser light show if anything. When Jayson rushes past him, the Wrecker leader let's out another sigh and folds down into his drill tank mode. <> Throwing himself into the struggle, Impactor lines up his drills with Dreadwind and attempts to connect. Folding down upon himself, Impactor transforms back into his Drill Tank mode. Combat: Drill Tank strikes Dreadwind with his Drills Ahoy! attack! -1 Gasket and Grommet has arrived. Fortress Maximus drops Gasket and Grommet. Sandstorm ducks as the concussion blast tears a chunk out of the wall behind him, but isn't as fortunate to be able to avoid both attacks and a shot of focused eat burns a hole in his shoulder. "As the humans say, talk to the hand!" PArticuarlly because it's been clenched into a fist and swung at Breakdown's face. Combat: Sandstorm strikes Breakdown with his All up in yer grille (Punch) attack! Combat: You took 8 damage. Exo-Armor Pegasus is stabbed! Jayson winces as the blade penetrates his armor, nearly getting him in the abdomen. He frees himself from the blade and ducks back, deciding to, for now, keep his distance. "I came here for a reason, Impactor," he states. "I'm here to fight, and I'm gonna fight!" Unless, of course, Impactor tells him to pull back, which he hasn't done. He switches some settings, then aims an arm-mounted gun at Windshear. "Heeeeere Decepticreep..." He fires. Combat: Exo-Armor Pegasus strikes Windshear with its Disruptor attack! *Vrooooom* That sound of mechanical half tracks can be heard echoing from the rear where the other Autobots had arrived from, the confines of the passageway causes the sound to magnify and making it sound as if it's an entire tank brigade that's coming through. There was a distress call, or rather a call to arms, made by Impactor earlier so could it be an Autobot? That sure sounds like a lot of Autobots and boy does it sound like they're bringing some heavy artillery along with them! Soon the foglights of vehicles can be seen and... ugh... it's only Gasket and Grommet! Yeah... so much for strong back up. Somewhere above ground, Fortress Maximus is weeping his heart out about how he's too big to fit down here proper. Windshear feels his blader strike and tear and the Human pulls himself off of it as he withdraws. Then suddenly hes blasted in the chest. Stumbling back he looks at his smoldering cockpit and up to the EXO suit, "I just got that polished!" and raising an arm, his blade retracts as he fires the arm laser aiming for the EXOs head area. Combat: Windshear misses Exo-Armor Pegasus with his Slow Ray attack! Breakdown is punched in the face! Armor is sheered from his face and the stunticon reels from the blow. "HNNNFF! You know what?! Talk to... my FRONT FENDER!" he yells, transforming into car mode and roaring his engines as he charges right into the Wrecker's shins! Off in the distance, there's the sound of the pitter patter of lil galloping feet. A cloud of dust is raised and the pattering comes closer. It's Slugfest, charging into battle! "Me come wreck their rule!" he pipes up. He leaps into the air, ready to be used as a chainsaw! Breakdown throws himself down to the ground, transforming into a white Lamborghini! Combat: White Lamborghini sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: White Lamborghini misses Sandstorm with his Crash attack! -2 Dreadwind doesn't know if he hit anything and to be honest he doesn't care he'd rather not be here in the first place, he cares so little that he doesn't even move to dodge as a drill tank barrels down on him. Probably why it only manages to tear a chunk of his chest away rather than burrowing right through him, for some silly reason most opponants assume the target wants to avoid injury. Spun round by the damage to his side Dreadwind kicks out at Impactor, "Down here they will never find your broken chassis, there will be nothing for the others to weep over... nothing left of anyone..." Combat: Dreadwind strikes Drill Tank with his Kick attack! Combat: Slugfest strikes Exo-Armor Pegasus with his Tripping Hazard (Kick) attack! Drills bore into the Decepticon, while he kicks back at the Autobot tank. <> Pushing forward, Impactor tries to ram Dreadwind up against the side wall. <> Combat: Drill Tank misses Dreadwind with his 'Tween a Wrecker and a Hard Place (Kick) attack! Sandstorm hops to the side and plants a foot against the wall of the tunnel, using a quick kick-jump to leap high enough to clear the incoming crash course. Then lands, transforming and taking off down the tunnel as well. "Oh you still wanna race do ya?" The dunebuggy comes speeding up, pulling the side and partway up the wall so he can squeeze past the other car. And then hits an extra bit of speed, causing the burst from his exhausts to spew out smoke, grit, and whatever other dirt it picks up from the old tunnel. Maybe he can blind the stunticon long enough he'll run into a wall instead. With a quick flip and the roar of an engine, Sandstorm takes off in dunebuggy mode, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. Combat: Combat Dunebuggy strikes White Lamborghini with his Eat my dust! attack! Combat: You took 3 damage. Combat: That attack has temporarily affected White Lamborghini 's Accuracy. (Blinded) Swoop has arrived. Exo-Armor Pegasus dodges to the side, letting the laser sail right past it. Jayson focuses on his chosen opponent, and as a result does not see Slugfest in time. "Yow!" he yelps as the Stegosaurus chainsaw hits his exo-armor. "Back off, you runt!" He attempts to grasp the Decepticon tapebot and then use him against Windshear. Exo-Armor Pegasus succeeds in grasping Slugfest, throwing him off-balance. The pair of drones under Fortress Maximus' command stops just a bit from out of the field of combat as weapons fire begins breaking out. Despite the drones being physically fragile and lacking in firepower, they can contribute in other ways. Honest! The first thing of business is to illuminate the dark passageway, of which Grommet accomplishes by deploying a series of high powered flares all over the ground. This act possibly makes it easier for the combatants here to see other, for better or worst. Slugfest kicks little feet in air as he's stegonapped! Combat: Exo-Armor Pegasus strikes Windshear with Slugfest's Chainsaw Plates attack! Slugfest says, "HELP! Me being dino-napped!" Slugfest's last pose: Slugfest kicks little feet in air as he's stegonapped! Durring the Olypmics, Fort Mox had approached the Dinobots to help do what they do best. Swoop had been Patrolling the cooridors when Fort Max radio him for help. The Dinobot comes rushing down the corridor, following the beacons left behind, eager to help and defend his friends. "Me, Swoop, Get here as fast as could. Hope me didn't miss party." He says with a slight chuckle as he watches the battle infront of him. Windshear attempts to compensate for his laser miss when Slugfest comes out of nowhere and hits the EXO suit. What happenes next is pretty much a blur of motion as the EXO grasps control of the Dinocon and turns him against the Seeker. Windy feels the bite of the chainsaw tear into his side before he can evade. Energon sprays out and with a rare gasp, he steps back, and grabs his side. This wasnt how it was suppose to go -- to be attacked by one of you own controled by the enemy. Not Nice as a certain ferretcon is fond of saying. Damage reports flash across his HUD and taking another step back Windy turns to the side to protect the breech through his outer playing into circuitry and severed lines and fires at the EXO. He aiming to try and disarm the fleshcreature wannabe TF outfit both of Slugfest and the arm that holds it. Combat: Windshear sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Windshear misses Exo-Armor Pegasus with his Thermal Laser attack! -2 "NONONONO!" Slugfest protests, kicking and squirming as his revving chainsawblades are being used for something that will surely void their warranty. "No use me! No use me on cons!" He wriggles to get free of Jayson's exo's grasp, swinging his tail somewhat ineffectively. Combat: Slugfest strikes Exo-Armor Pegasus with his Angry Tail Thwap! (Punch) attack! White Lamborghini drives into a cloud of particles rather than his original target! "AHHH! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Breakdown screams shortly before he swerves into the tunnel wall. His plasma cannon materializes from his rear fender, and begins to spray blasts blindly at where Sandstorm might be! Combat: White Lamborghini strikes Combat Dunebuggy with his Plasma-Energy Blaster attack! -2 Dreadwind connects with Impactor and sighs miserably, every success is always punished with more suffering as if a hole in him wasn't enough already. Preparing for the worst he just stands there and awaits the mind numbing pain that is coming his way, but no in the darkness and swirl of combat somehow Impactor misses. "Why are we here after you? Why are any of us here? You won't like the answer, you won't even accept it as the truth. We are here to suffer, to feed existence till the universe finally dies and the last of creation with it." Some people never learn to not ask Dreadwind potentially existential questions, he raises an arm and fires. Combat: Dreadwind strikes Drill Tank with his Single Wrist Blaster (Disruptor) attack! Combat Dunebuggy watchs Breakdown wheel about wildly, but doesn't get to enjoy the show for long. The plasma blast flying out of the smoke strikes him hard and causes the Wrecker to swerve himself as it blows out the windows of his cab and causes the roof to distort a bit. After a few skids he manages to get back under control and starts closing in on Breakdown again, transforming at the last moment to leap at the top of the car, pulling out a couple of his combat knives as he does so to try and dig in an extra grip. "So how's 'bout you tell me just why ya creeps got it on hard for pissin' off my boss?" With a lightning fast flip and twist, Sandstorm lands in his robot mode, ready for action. Combat: Sandstorm misses White Lamborghini with his Thermal Knife attack! Exo-Armor Pegasus accelerates into the air to avoid the shot, still holding Slugfest. "You're more trouble than you're worth," Jayson emits as the Stegosaurus slaps the armor with his tail. He releases his hold, letting the dinocon drop to the ground. Now ignoring him, he turns his attention back to Windshear, switching the settings on his arm-gun again. He aims, and fires. Combat: Exo-Armor Pegasus strikes Windshear with its Laser attack! <> the Drill tank emits, pulling back away from Dreadwind after the shallow attack bounces off the hull of the tunneling craft. Transforming back into robot mode, Impactor's right arm comes up and the harpoon rescinds into his forearm. Giving the Decepticon a menacing glare, the Wrecker's hand extends another harpoon attachment.. only of a much more blue fashion, and crackling with electricity. Aiming the point at Dreadwind, Impactor fires and asides. "I didn't like tha answer." The Drill Tank shifts and transforms, revealing the Wrecker leader Impactor! Combat: Impactor strikes Dreadwind with the Decibel-forged Stun Harpoon Attachment attack! Combat: Dreadwind has been temporarily incapacitated. Grommet swirvels about, the unarmed tank tracked drone retreats back to its Roller look-alike-partner, Gasket, after it had completed its job of laying down flares. Once Grommet has evacuated from the immediate vicinity of the combat zone, it opens its trailer compartment and a RADAR beacon is ejected and shot towards the combat zone. The spherical-like metallic object flies through the air and sends out a few radar pulses once it has reached the apex of its ascent before dropping harmlessly down onto the ground and transmitting its collected data with the last of its energy over to Grommet who then uploads it back to Fortress Maximus. Combat: Battle Station initiates a radar sweep of the area. Swoop watches the battle, seeing how everyone is paired up, and figures the best way to help everyone is to launch one of his missles. "Wreckers and human might want stand back!" He warns as he aims one of his missles and fires towards the three bigger 'cons. Combat: Swoop strikes White Lamborghini with his Big Bang! Area attack! Combat: You took 16 damage. Combat: Swoop's attack has damaged your Strength! Combat: Swoop misses Windshear with his Big Bang! Area attack! Combat: Swoop strikes Dreadwind with his Big Bang! Area attack! Windshear cant believe he missed but notices Sluggy dislodge himself from the EXOs grip. Reflexes a bit slow right not, he takes another hit from the flreshcreatures laser weapon. He barely felt that one but he sure felt the little Dinocons hit and still does. That guy's tough! Taking slightly longer to aim this time, Windy fires back at the EXO completely unaware that a missle just missed him. Combat: Windshear strikes Exo-Armor Pegasus with his Thermal Laser attack! -3 White Lamborghini sees a dark shape leaping at him through the cloud of sand, and spazzes out, tearing away from Sandstorm before the Wrecker ever gets close to him! "Get away from me, Autobot!" Breakdown says, and finally, he's had enough stress that his engine begins to vibrate involuntarily, which may be bad news if Sandstorm succumbs to its effects! "Oh, oh, you wanna know why we're coming after Impac*tard*, huh? Well, it's REALLY simple, Autobot! You Wreckers are IN THE WAY, so we're just going to push you aside like a bunch of Terran kids, hahahahaha, it'll be fun!" He doesn't have long to gloat before Swoop's missile blasts him off of the ground. "AHHHH!" Combat: White Lamborghini strikes Sandstorm with his Breakdown Shakedown attack! Slugfest finally gets dropped by Jayson. But he's so infuriated by the audacity of the human (not that he could spell or even pronounce the word), that he runs right back up to Jayson and starts hitting the exo's heel with his tail. Combat: Slugfest misses Exo-Armor Pegasus with his YOU NO IGNORE ME! (Kick) attack! This isn't going well, since Impactor started his assault Dreadwind has been able to do nothing but hit him, which will likely equate to some sort of painful paralysis or maybe a dimembering. This time the Autobot comes at him and strikes home knocking another chunk from him, a telling blow apparently as Dreadwind collapses to the floor apparently unable to move and is then promptly blown some way down the tunnel. Eventually his hideously battered and charred body finally grinds to a halt with him half propped up against a wall, "See, nothing but suffering for us all... till the very end." He just lies there listlessly, apparently giving up on the fight or possibly just giving up more, all the while Hi-Test struggles to push more energy through his systems to get him moving again. Combat: Dreadwind takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Combat: Dreadwind uses up a charge on his Black Hole Special booster pack! Combat: Removed restrictions on CORRUPT for your attacks. "Did you just call me Impactard?" Impactor questions, his head swiveling around to glare down at the Stunticon. Building up some forward momentum, the Wrecker leader fixates his shoulder cannon on Breakdown. "In the way of what? What are you clowns up to down here?" The weapon serves a double purpose, as it feeds him with structural information on this specific road warrior. Combat: Impactor analyzes Breakdown for weaknesses. Exo-Armor Pegasus is hit square in the chest by the laser retaliation. Still ignoring Slugfest and his attempts to damage him, he rushes at Windshear, again attempting to stab him with his wrist blade. Combat: Exo-Armor Pegasus misses Windshear with its Arm Blade attack! Sandstorm grunts as he hits the ground from missing his mark and rolls with the landing. It turns out to be fortunate that he's low to the ground as a missile comes streaking past. Unfortunately it's not so good when the vibrations from Breakdown's freaky engine starts knocking debris loose from the cavern wall and crashing down around him, a few chunks bouncing off his back and a larger large shard jabbing into his leg. Oof. That's gonna sting later. Once everything stops breaking he pushes himself back to his feet... but then spins on his heels and sprints in the direction Dreadwind went crashing instead. "Oh your suffering is just -starting-!" Flips one knife around and swings to crack Dread across the face with the back of it, partially as a distraction so he doesn't chase after Impactor switching targets. Combat: Sandstorm misses Dreadwind with his Hilt Punch (Punch) attack! Swoop watches as the wreckers exchange dance partners, while Dreadwind just sits there, being Swoop's polar oppisite a boring unfriendly and unhappy Decepticon. So of course The Dinobot deicdes to help Sandstorm as he pulls out his thermal sword and slashes at the depressed jet. Combat: Swoop strikes Dreadwind with his Flaming Sword of Justice! attack! Ravage has arrived. Combat: Ravage activates his cloaking field and vanishes from sight! All the while that Grommet was busy running back and forth dropping flares and radar scanning the area, Gasket has been sitting idle in the back despite actually being ARMED (well, if you can consider the two pitiful blaster cannons qualifying as being well armed). Is Gasket actually a sneaky slacker while its counterpart is doing all the work? No sir! Gasket has been carefully observing the battle, paying attention to whoever is looking visibly worst for wear and eventually he sees the first target that fits that description, Jayson! The small roller look-a-like drone zips forward after the exo-suited EDC soldier and begins making quick and accurate welding jobs with its laser blasters firing at low power. Don't ask how, but Gasket manages to get the job done! Combat: Battle Station quickly patches up some of Exo-Armor Pegasus 's minor injuries. "Hey! HEY! You no ignore! You pay tenshun! YOU NO USE ME AGAIN!" Slugfest shouts at Jayson. He tries getting the Human in the Exo's attention by attempting to saw through the leg of it. Combat: Slugfest strikes Exo-Armor Pegasus with his Chainsaw Plates attack! -3 White Lamborghini flips back up into robot mode, and grins at Impactor. "Oh, you wanna know, huh? SORRY, but the boss doesn't want you to know THAT much. Just understand this... one way or the other, you Autobots are FINISHED! Even if you survive us, Autobot, there's STILL nothing you can do to stop us! Heheheh, you're so screwed, and you don't even know it!" He squints at Impactor, examining him as well, though he has no idea he's also be examined! Windshear steps back and to the side and avoids the EXOs blade attack. Still favoring his damaged side though, he brings up his arm facing the EXO and attempts an elbow smash into the side of the EXOs pilot/head area. The white Lamborghini pops up into the jittery Breakdown! Combat: Windshear misses Exo-Armor Pegasus with his elbow to the head. (Punch) attack! Breakdown says, "D-Dreadwind, I'm going to send you s-some Intel!" Dreadwind says, "It won't help..." Combat: Breakdown analyzes Impactor for weaknesses Dreadwind can exploit. Combat: Battle Station runs a diagnostic check on Exo-Armor Pegasus Breakdown says, "Sure it will, uh, just... just attack that spot on his armor the assassins knicked!" Dreadwind just lies there motionless maybe he really has gone offline this time, he doesn't even flinch as Sandstorm flashes a blade across his face, maybe it's the odd shadows from the flares that causes the Wrecker to miss. However the words penetrate his defeatism and stirs him to life and word, "Just starting? You clearly haven't spoken with your commander much, he was making me suffer long before you were even a basic chassi..." Then Swoop dives down on him and carves his chest wide open, to his credit, which he never gets, Dreadwind doesn't cry out instead he just complains, "About time..." as he raises his rifles again and fires from the ground. Combat: Battle Station runs a diagnostic check on Sandstorm Combat: Battle Station runs a diagnostic check on Impactor Combat: Dreadwind strikes Impactor with his Thermal Melters Area attack! Combat: Dreadwind strikes Sandstorm with his Thermal Melters Area attack! Ravage had been... occupied with other aspects of his own mission. Making sure that elements were set into place properly. Now, he creeps noiselessly down the tunnel, stealth systems engaged, and takes stock of the current situation, sharp optics picking out the locations of friend and foe in the dark, and mapping out the battlefield. Dreadwind says, "Oh great... just how are things going to get even worse?" Cyclonus says, "Cease your endless prattle, Dreadwind. You're the commanding officer of the Decepticon Aerospace, start acting like it." Dreadwind sighs, "I don't want to kill Galvatron and take command, it wouldn't change anything." From Exo-Armor Pegasus , Jayson Redfield blinks as Gasket comes to fix up his armor. He grins, though no one can actually see it, and the exo gives Gasket a thumbs up. "Thanks!" And then the exo ducks as Windshear attacks again. In the process, unfortunately, he is assaulted by Slugfest, whose chainsaw plates damage the Pegasus's leg. "Dammit!" Jayson exclaims. He turns the armor around to face Slugfest. "I'm getting sick of you!" He kicks at the little tapebot. Combat: Exo-Armor Pegasus strikes Slugfest with its Kick attack! Sandstorm gahs as another portion of his armor gets warped from the heat of Dreadwind's guns, this time melting down into some of the internals and causing a few systems to act up as he staggers backwards. But as usual it's going to take more than some intense pain to stop the wrecker. "Yeah, well... that was -just- him, though." Backing up a few paces, he pulls his own gun back out, draws a bead as he settles into a bit more protective stance, and opens fire. If he hits with the stream of corrosive sand, so be it, but if he dodges it'll hopefully keep him from ducking out of Swoop's way too. Breakdown says, "T-th-th I guess that's loyalty in a strange sorta way, at least!" Combat: Sandstorm strikes Dreadwind with his Sandblaster Gun attack! Combat: Battle Station runs a diagnostic check on Impactor Combat: Battle Station runs a diagnostic check on Sandstorm Andi Lassiter steps out of the house and off of the front porch. Andi Lassiter has arrived. What was just a tiny fracture from the earlier assassin's blade, is now torn open from Dreadwind's devastating Thermal smelting ray of armor damage! Gloops of the stuff drip down from Impactor's side, revealing singed wiring and inner damaged circuitry. Cringing in pain, the Wrecker leader doesn't even glance back at the emocon. He's tunnel visioned at Breakdown, and his current line of responses. "Nothin'? I strenously doubt that, Breakdown." Impactor gruffs, half stomping towards the Stunticon.. half limping. "Yer get rich quick scheme ain't gonna cut it, not this time.. not anytime Decepticreep. There is somethin' I can do about it." Raising his right arm, the one with the deadly weapon attachment, the Wrecker swings wildly at Breakdown. "SEND YOU HOME IN A BODY BAG!!" Combat: Impactor strikes Breakdown with his Harpoon Haymaker! attack! -1 Combat: You took 24 damage. Combat: You are very aware that your life is in danger! Combat: Impactor's attack has damaged your Velocity! Combat: Breakdown falls to the ground, unconscious. As Dreadwind continues to be the depressive loser that he is, Swoop decides to try to do something that might cheer him up. "Me, Swoop, think you too serious. Need to cheer up! Me Swoop help put smile on face!" He says with a grin as he slashes at Dreadwind's face, apprently trying to carve a smile in the Decepticon's face plate. Combat: Swoop strikes Dreadwind with his Why So Serious? attack! Gasket zips around the combat zone, dodging missed weapons fire as various beams hits a little bit too close for comfort, but it does little to deter the midget sized Roller wannabe. The six wheeled drone zooms through the combat zone and ends up beside its next target that has fallen within its parameters of repair. Its two laser cannons swirvels to aim at the warped armour platings on Sandstorm and begins pelting the triplechanger with low powered laser beams to MAGICALLY fix its patient -WITHOUT HANDS-. Yes. Clearly Gasket is just that awesome. Combat: Battle Station quickly patches up some of Sandstorm's minor injuries. Combat: Battle Station runs a diagnostic check on Sandstorm Slugfest gets punted by the Exo! He flies through the air before landing on his side. Unfortunately, it's like a turtle on it's back. He can't get up! Combat: Slugfest takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Windshear is coming to the conclusion this is a loosing proposition they are in. He glances toward where he last saw Dreadwind and then notices Breakdown down for the count. The Seeker moomentatily finds himself wishing he could take this fight to the skies right about now. But thats not going to happen. With a click of settings on his arm lasers, he raises one and again fires at the EXO suit. If nothing else hes going to take this human down one way or another. Combat: Windshear strikes Exo-Armor Pegasus with his Thermal Laser attack! -4 Breakdown's optic sensors go wide as he sees Impactor coming after him with a harpoon! He tries to back up, but only manages to back into the wall. With nowhere to run to, the Stunticon is brutally impaled upon the harpoon! "Hwwrrrrghhhh!" he gasps out, limbs flailing about in a panic and feebly beating away at the harpoon arm. But it's no good, and Breakdown slowly but surely succumbs to his wounds. "You're... still screwed... Cybertron will..." he coughs out, then his head slumps forward. Dreadwind still hasn't moved and gets sand blasted and then Swoop cuts a rictus grin into his as yet undented faceplate. Dreadwind looks to be in as sorry a state physically as he is emotionally how he can keep going in his current state is unclear, he'd probably point out that it's existence never allowing him to have any peace. A tiny voice screams incessantly in his head to move, to shift his bulk and get clear and he does if only to stop the annoyingly cheery buzz."Stay and die or don't, it won't change anything." Is the closest Dreadwind gets to giving the command to retreat, painfully he gets to his feet and starts to trudge away from the battle, but he knows he won't make it. Combat: Dreadwind begins retreating, outrunning all pursuit. Grimlock has left. It appears Ravage finished his work just in time; Decepticons are dropping (or fleeing) like cyber-rats everywhere. From concealment, he activates his radio and sends a silent broadcast to the Decepticon broadband, in order to give them all a chance to get clear before he engages his surprise. Andi Lassiter arrives where Fortress Maximus is currently, her fellow medic having stopped in just long enough to drop her off before rushing away again to make sure the repair bay is ready for incoming wounded. "I made it...I hope." Ravage says, "Operation Bulldozer is now in effect. All Decepticons in the area are advised to make minimum safe distance within the next five astroseconds. You haff been warned." Slugfest says, "Need help! Me fallen, can't get up." Combat: Battle Station runs a diagnostic check on Swoop Combat: Battle Station runs a diagnostic check on Impactor Impactor stares at the broken wreck of Stunticon lying on the ground, heaped up in a fine mess for Motormaster to fret about. Instead of gloating over Breakdown, the Wrecker leader turns to regard the rest of the Decepticon troopers. "Autobots, cease fire!" Impactor calls out, briskly striding in the face of his sustained damage towards the rest of those present. "Decepticons, one chance ta end this without all of ya needin' ta be knocked offline. Take that.." he jerks a thumb over his back at Breakdown, "And get tha 'ell out of here. Oh, and tell yer boss that if he's lookin' ta take out tha Wreckers.. he better try a little harder than a handful of pitiful assassins." Windshear rasps, "Ive got you, Sluggy, hang on." Slugfest says, "Yay!" Combat: Impactor takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Windshear gives Impactor a glare as he walks foward and grabs slugfest then walking up toward Impactor at the last moment he veers over and toward Breakdown. "Be my pleasure Autoscum.." he mutters as he grits his dental plate and hefts Breakdown up as well. Without another word he turns around and walks back in the direction they came from, slowly and condidentlly, not at all intimidated. The laser hits the Pegasus in the shoulder. It backs away from Windshear, moving closer to Impactor. The exo, by now, is pretty badly damaged, but far from being rendered offline. As per Impactor's orders, Jayson does not attack again, and instead tries to tend to his injuries. He's bleeding slightly in several places, but otherwise isn't too badly hurt. The armor, as usual, is in much worse condition. Sandstorm watchs Dreadwind crawl away for a moment, shaking his head. "... Shooting him in the back would just -end- his suffering, it'd be doing him a favor," he snorts finally, turning back to the rest of the fight. He eyes over the others still present with his rifle in his hands.. but does stop actually attacking since Impactor said so. Combat: Sandstorm takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Windshear says, "Have at it, Ravage." Slugfest is safely carried away by the very Decepticon that Jayson used him to injure! and said shredding is leaking all over the dinocon... "Wait! Don't go! Me no done with you yet!" Swoop cries otu as Dreadwind shambles away, but then Impactors orders them to stand down. Swoop ponders for a moment if he should, since Impactor's not really his leader... allowing the 'con to shuffle outta sight. Swoop decides not to give further chase, he at least gave the 'con something to smile about. Thats good enough for now. Ravage waits until his fellow Decepticons are clear. And then, with ruthless calm he sends another silent radio signal, but this one doesn't carry any sort of warning. Rather it is a short pulse containing the detonation code for the master charge placed in the rubble above the hidden tunnel. A master charge which is programmed to send out a series of sub-pulses to the matching series of secondary explosives meticulously arranged around the area in such a manner to bring the entire structure crashing inward. Ravage has been a busy kitty. Something very like a smile almost passes across his unmoving metal lips as the initial rumbling BOOMs reverberate throughout the underground. Combat: Battle Station runs a diagnostic check on Ravage Combat: Battle Station runs a diagnostic check on Exo-Armor Pegasus Sandstorm's sharp sense snap up at the sounds of rumbling overhead. ".. Slag.. Take cover!" The Wrecker wheels around, but instead of trying to get out of the attack he makes a dive towards Andi to cover the non-exo'ed human with his body as the cavern comes crashing down around them! "TAKE COVER!" Impactor shouts out, turning around to snatch at Jayson Redfield and guard his damaged exo from any sort of splash damage.. as the entire cavern around them comes apart. Gasket revs its engines and retreats back over to Grommet as the call for a cease fire is ordered. Sure, Gasket could go and also fix Impactor but then that'd be one less patient for the medical staffs to work on. Not to mention that Gasket's MAGIC lasers shouldn't be used too many times in a day, otherwise it'd highlight said player's lack of creativity. When the bomb goes off, the two drones instinctively merges together to form the super-underachieving warrior, Cog. The Minibot sized warrior attempts to protect itself using its arms as the roof begins falling apart piece by piece. Swoop says, "Me Swoop, Not Slag! Need get optics checked!" Swoop replies. Well Sandstorm DID use a captial letter this time. But soon realizes what the Wrecker means, as the rumbles is heard and the LArger Dinobot takes cover. Slaq really needs to change his name... makes conversations too confusing for Swoop." Windshear once out of sight his bravado wilts a little bit under the weight of the Stunticon in one arm and a mini dinobot in the other on top of his damage. He hears the explosions and the ground shaking and pauses. Dirt and rocks come raining down from above and on the walls and he glances back at the cave in. Windy cant help but smirk a bit, "Enjoy your tomb Wreckers..." he rumbles and shifting his grip on Breakdown continues out slowly. Exo-Armor Pegasus is grabbed by Impactor, and Jayson isn't protesting about it. "Oh *hell*!" the youngster swears as the tunnels start to collapse. Sandstorm's sharp sense snap up at the sounds of rumbling overhead. ".. Slag.. Take cover!" The Wrecker wheels around, seeing Impactor already grabbing Jayson. Swoop can handle himself, being a bit tough Dinobot... So he darts over and grabs the just merged Cog and shoves him towards the entrance tunnel and out of the collapsing cavern. "Make sure someone gets word ta dig us out!" Since Max can hear through his drones and all, it's the best way to send a message. Dreadwind is steadily trudging his retreat, well clear of the tunnels by the time the explosives go off, not that he cares. No one ever does about him so why should he about them, still it's going to be an excruciatingly slow journey home but at least he's only got one annoyingly cheery companion with him. Galvatron says, "So. Were you successful, Ravage?" Battle Station looks over to Andi Lassiter grimly as he notices the trusted human ally and medical staffs arriving, "Ms Lassiter, I didn't think you'd get here so quickly and with the medical staffs too." There's a slight tremble that resonates in the ground beneath, prompting the Headmaster leader to activate his radio communicator, "The Decepticons had one last trick up their sleeve. Never underestimate Ravage's ability to evade radar scans." Fortress Maximus totally did that in robot mode too. Ravage says, "Successful detonation, Commander. All Autobots within the tunnel should have been destroyed; or at the least thoroughly buried. Decepticon force withdrawal also successful." Ravage silently fades back up the tunnel path from whence he came. There's no point in gloating. He did his job, and is his habit, he did it well. That is all that matters. Why even let them know who orchestrated the disaster? Galvatron says, "*Excellent.* Now, with those irritating Wreckers out of the way, I can proceed to the next phase of my plan. Engineering teams, you will receive new orders shortly!" Dreadwind says, "Successful if you count the dead..." Ravage says, "Keeping you alive vas not my responsibility." Impudent Fool Backfire says, "Yes, great Galvatron.. my engineering skills stand at the ready!" Galvatron says, "Those who DIED are WEAK and unworthy of the glorious new era our world will soon enter! Let the dead remain where they are!" Andi Lassiter throws her hands out as the the slight shudder of the ground REALLY plays havoc with her equilibrium. "Holy heck...was that an earthquake?" Galvatron says, "...Backfire, I don't think I'd trust you with a can of paint and a brush." Galvatron says, "Let alone a sonic hex wrench!" Impudent Fool Backfire says, "Lord Galvatron, I'm offended.. does that mean you do not wish to see the mural I painted of you?" Dreadwind says, "Dead and forgotten, like so many others before them, like all things inevitably will be." Galvatron says, "I think, Backfire, you don't want ME to see it." Ravage says, "Perheps Backfire could exercise his engineering skills on Dreadwing's radio." Dryly, "It appears to have been damaged." Impudent Fool Backfire says, "Acknowledged, Lord Galvatron." Andi Lassiter remembers NOW that she removed her comlink on the trip up from Earth. She hastily fishes the little earpiece out of a pocket to put in her ear. "What's going on?" she asks before activating the link. Fortress Maximus walks in from out of nowhere and praises you, "I'd offer you my head in appreciation of your excellent RP, but that's probably set you up into becoming a *Master yourself too. We can't have that now, can we? So here's a +nom instead. Slugfest snickers as the big boom happens. "Them buried good? Serve them right! Them no mess with us!" Ravage said Dreadwind, really. Windshear mms a bit. "You can be sure there will be rescue teams sent for them, Sluggy...." he contiues toward the surface. "Not before Lord Galvatron has had time to implement the next stage of his plan," Ravage counters smoothly, obviously quite pleased with himself as he disengages his cloak and falls into step at Windshear's side. "You did vell to hold them there until all of the preparations were made." Fortress Maximus lowers the arm that his comlink piece was attached to as the sound of the Autobot's gumby excavation crew can be heard approaching in the distance. He looks down over to Andi and sighs, "Looks like we'll be here all night, Ms. Lassiter. Things have gone from bad to worst." The large Headmaster leader pulls out his large fusion powered rifle and begins making precision shots against certain areas of the ground to weaken it for the Autobot gumbies to begin digging. It's going to be a long night. Dreadwind moves upward to the Highroad. Dreadwind has left. Andi Lassiter looks at Fortress Maximus worriedly, then starts putting the incomplete pieces together. A tremor of some sort. The others's radios transmitting static, a mining crew arriving. "Oh god... they're trapped in a cave in?" Now she's downright scared. "Is there anything I can do, Max?" Who knows, maybe the debris pieces are large enough for her to get down there and see if the others are okay. Through the awesome miracles of plot fast forwarding. The nitty gritty of pulling flattened Transformers and exo-suits out from below the ground is done and over with, now the scene is in the medical bay inside Debris. Cue drama packed ER scenes, starring Andi Lassiter with nurse Fortress Maximus and Grimlock guest starring as that creepy looking janitor. Decepticon Message: 2/65 Posted Author New Orders Thu Sep 02 Galvatron ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Galvatron appears on-screen, somewhere in the catacombs of Cybertron. Behind him, several armed Decepticons are looking around cautiously. The sounds of construction work echo in the background. "Thanks to my brilliance, the Wreckers, those thrice-damned obstacles ever standing in the way of my destiny, have been neutralized as a threat, at least for the time being. We need to exploit this opportunity while we can! "Engineering teams, Constructicons, whomever... you are to report to the Planetary Engines of our world. Once there, you shall begin repairs upon them. Time and war, I am certain, have taken their toll on them, but I need them fully operational, and *soon.* The rest of you, you can keep yourselves busy by continuing to harry the Autobots and keep them from interfering with our plans. "A brilliant new beginning awaits, Decepticons! Cybertron... is GOING places. Heheheheh! Hahahahahaha!" Decepticon Message: 2/66 Posted Author RE: New Orders Thu Sep 02 Cyclonus ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cyclonus' face appears before the screen, the constant scowl apparent. "Galvatron has given his command, and I expect it to be followed to the letter. All able bodied warriors are to report to their superior officers, to rendezvous with attack squadrons currently at the ready. Craft of oribital bombardment capabilities are to see me personally. Lord Cyclonus, out."